First, you have just two days to get a little scratch together and purchase tickets for the “Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth” lecture and soundsuit performance. But you already knew that, right? I mean, we’ve written a night & day piece and an entire review…
Ok, just a warning: I’m going to be mean in this blog. But I assert that anything I say here does not hold a candle to the suffering I feel everyday on my way to work, when I’ve had to take in a begrudging eyeful of the Monsters of Folk…
I’m a Phoenix native. Which, they say, is rare. Even more unusual is that I actually love this place.There are just a handful of us out there and while there are so many things that make us uniquely Phoenician (we don’t talk to our neighbors and we shower 7-12 times…
By the time artist Nick Cave steps to the podium at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts tonight for an in-person discussion and showcase of his “soundsuits,” the season’s run-of-the-mill ghosts and goblins will have packed it in ’til 2010. But Cave’s creations are as monstrously cool as any of…
Yes, let’s!If you ever meet me, you can pretty much assume that the accessories I’ll be wearing have come from frances, the adorable boutique on Central and Camelback. It’s kind of embarrassing, really. But every time I go there, I find something I just “have to have”. And before I…
I make no bones about my feelings for the city of Phoenix: I love it.Sure, we certainly have our problems and while I believe such issues should always be addressed, as soon as the conversation turns to unproductive bashing on my home town, I get seriously T.O.’d. You may as…
I live in a small apartment fourplex that was built in 1927. Sometimes when my mind wanders, I imagine what has happened within these walls. What kind of people lived here? How many times has someone gotten freaky here? And has anyone ever died?Then I start to get a little…
In some craft circles, residents of Glendale, Arizona, are envied beyond belief and it takes only one visit to the Bead Museum to understand why. These beads aren’t just for crafters (although the gift shop sells some amazing supplies). The displays are for anyone interested in the history of the…
This is a piece about a showing of the documentary Karsh: The Searching Eye at Phoenix Art Museum. This writer thought it would be real smart (and totally agoraphobic) to just throw the film in the Netflix queue. This would be the part where a “FAIL” joke could be made,…
This blog is about a writing contest and it goes out to all my fellow writers out there.I hesitated about this blog because I’m a little late in the game. This particular writing contest has an October 31st deadline, which is just ten days from now.Then I remembered who the…
We’ve got some fantastic slideshows up this week, we really do. So while our co-workers were watching the clock all weekend, making sure to show up on time for the big events, we decided to just take it easy and bar hop on our own schedule. Yes, we’re the lucky…
It’s really no news that crafting has become a very hot thing in Phoenix. I guess we could blame it on the need for indoor activities during the summer months. Regardless, it seems like everyone is knitting, sewing, hot glue gunning and glittering everything in sight.If you happen to be…
Hey everybody! It’s the third Friday of the month.There’s just all kinds of things going on tonight in the local art world. You know you can visit any of the Roosevelt Row and Grand Avenue galleries to check out what you may have missed on First Friday. You can also…
Vampires are the new ninjas. New pirates? No, wait, they’re the new zombies, right? However vampires rank in the whole ninja/pirate/undead craze of these past few years, it’s clear they’ve established their place in today’s pop culture. With the success of the Twilight book series and television shows like True…
Now, I know I just mentioned Lisa Sipe in a blog last week but this time it’s different, I swear.The encaustic (melted wax) artist is having her final solo show at Eye Lounge, opening this Friday, October 16th. She’s at the end of her three year term at the artist-run…
Attention all crafters: put down your hot glue gun, knitting needles or bedazzler and pay close attention.It’s finally happened…your favorite documentary is coming to DVD! “Handmade Nation: The Rise of D.I.Y., Art, Craft and Design” is a 65 minute documentary by artist/crafter/musician/filmmaker, Faythe Levine, about the nationwide rise in popularity…
Vegetarianism is running rampant these days. And if you’re a lady who goes for the kind of guy who writes songs, wears TOMS shoes and has grown a beard at some point in the last two years, you’ve most likely slept with, dated or cohabited with a vegetarian.In the past…
Wow. 2010. Do you think we’re going to stop saying “two-thousand-ten” and start streamlining with “twenty-ten” like they do in movies that take place in the future?Well, regardless, here in two-thousand-nine, we gave a Best of Phoenix award to SeeSaw Designs. We called them the best letterpressers in town and…
Apparently, Arty Girl is all about education this week.Monday, I blogged about the encaustic workshop at Eye Lounge and today, I’m going to tell you about a couple of writing workshops for all you writers out there looking to improve your craft.First, we’ve got “Writing for the Stage” with playwright…
So we were a little worried that SMoCA Nights might suffer on a Saturday night. Even though the event was filled with fine art, boozy cocktails, good music and an incredible fashion show, we feared it would get lost in the overwhelming shuffle of so many partying opportunities on that…
Hooray! It’s a new artist workshop! I love these things.And it’s an encaustic workshop…one of my all-time favorite media. Encaustic is a painting method that uses melted wax to cover a surface. Of course, wax is thick and malleable so this can border on sculpture from time to time. I’ve…
Do you like the pretty flowers? So do I. But I’ll get to that in a minute.Now, I don’t want to beat a dead horse. But I’m just going to mention (again) that the Best of Phoenix Wonderland art opening is tonight. What’s that? You’d like to know more, you…
